Templo Mayor v03, Centro Histórico, Mexico City DF, Mexico
Mexico City est. 1521, pop. 21.2MM • the preceding Aztec city of Tenochtilan est. 1325, pop. (estimated) 200K • the Centro Historico district of Mexico City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site • oldest known map of Mexico City
• the Templo Mayor (Great Temple) was one of the main Aztec (Mexica) temples in capital city Tenochtitlan • after destruction by Spanish army under conquistador Hernan Cortés (1485-1547), ruins covered over by Mexico City • location eventually forgotten • scale model of temple & digital illustration of Tenochtitlan as it appeared when Spaniards arrived
• part of temple discovered, early 20th c. but no excavation because site covered with upscale neighborhood • temple rediscovered by electric co. workers, 25 Feb, 1978 • site excavation, 1978-1982 headed by archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma • Templo Mayor Project authorized by presidential decree • 13 bldgs. from 19th-20th c. demolished to clear site • 7,000 artifacts recovered, now housed in Museo del Templo Mayor (Templo Mayor Museum)
• Sacred Precinct surrounding temple reported to have 78 bldgs. • all that remains of temple is a platform & a section of paving in south courtyard
Hernán Cortés letter to King Carlos V, 1520:
"Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest, whose grandeur of architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for within its precincts, surrounded by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of five hundred families. Around the interior of the enclosure there are handsome edifices, containing large halls and corridors, in which the religious persons attached to the temple reside. There are fully forty towers, which are lofty and well built, the largest of which has fifty steps leading to its main body, and is higher than the tower of the principal tower of the church at Seville."
"Three halls are in this grand temple, which contain the principal idols... leading from the halls are chapels with very small doors, to which the light is not admitted, nor are any persons except the priests, and not all of them. In these chapels are the images of idols... The principal ones, in which the people have greatest faith and confidence, I precipitated from their pedestals, and cast them down the steps of the temple, purifying the chapels in which they had stood, as they were all polluted with human blood, shed ill the sacrifices. In the place of these I put images of Our Lady and the Saints, which excited not a little feeling in Moctezuma and the inhabitants, who at first remonstrated, declaring that if my proceedings were known throughout the country, the people would rise against me..."
"I answered, through the interpreters, that they were deceived in expecting any favors from idols, the work of their own hands, formed of unclean things; and that they must learn there was but one God, the universal Lord of all, who had created the heavens and earth, and all things else, and had made them and us; that He was without beginning and immortal, and they were bound to adore and believe Him, and no other creature or thing."
• after the conquest, Cortés directed the destruction & leveling of the city • A place for human sacrifices -BBC • Templo Mayor & Its Symbolism -Guggehneim • Unburying the Aztec -National Geographic • Khan Academy
Templo Mayor v03, Centro Histórico, Mexico City DF, Mexico
Mexico City est. 1521, pop. 21.2MM • the preceding Aztec city of Tenochtilan est. 1325, pop. (estimated) 200K • the Centro Historico district of Mexico City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site • oldest known map of Mexico City
• the Templo Mayor (Great Temple) was one of the main Aztec (Mexica) temples in capital city Tenochtitlan • after destruction by Spanish army under conquistador Hernan Cortés (1485-1547), ruins covered over by Mexico City • location eventually forgotten • scale model of temple & digital illustration of Tenochtitlan as it appeared when Spaniards arrived
• part of temple discovered, early 20th c. but no excavation because site covered with upscale neighborhood • temple rediscovered by electric co. workers, 25 Feb, 1978 • site excavation, 1978-1982 headed by archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma • Templo Mayor Project authorized by presidential decree • 13 bldgs. from 19th-20th c. demolished to clear site • 7,000 artifacts recovered, now housed in Museo del Templo Mayor (Templo Mayor Museum)
• Sacred Precinct surrounding temple reported to have 78 bldgs. • all that remains of temple is a platform & a section of paving in south courtyard
Hernán Cortés letter to King Carlos V, 1520:
"Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest, whose grandeur of architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for within its precincts, surrounded by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of five hundred families. Around the interior of the enclosure there are handsome edifices, containing large halls and corridors, in which the religious persons attached to the temple reside. There are fully forty towers, which are lofty and well built, the largest of which has fifty steps leading to its main body, and is higher than the tower of the principal tower of the church at Seville."
"Three halls are in this grand temple, which contain the principal idols... leading from the halls are chapels with very small doors, to which the light is not admitted, nor are any persons except the priests, and not all of them. In these chapels are the images of idols... The principal ones, in which the people have greatest faith and confidence, I precipitated from their pedestals, and cast them down the steps of the temple, purifying the chapels in which they had stood, as they were all polluted with human blood, shed ill the sacrifices. In the place of these I put images of Our Lady and the Saints, which excited not a little feeling in Moctezuma and the inhabitants, who at first remonstrated, declaring that if my proceedings were known throughout the country, the people would rise against me..."
"I answered, through the interpreters, that they were deceived in expecting any favors from idols, the work of their own hands, formed of unclean things; and that they must learn there was but one God, the universal Lord of all, who had created the heavens and earth, and all things else, and had made them and us; that He was without beginning and immortal, and they were bound to adore and believe Him, and no other creature or thing."
• after the conquest, Cortés directed the destruction & leveling of the city • A place for human sacrifices -BBC • Templo Mayor & Its Symbolism -Guggehneim • Unburying the Aztec -National Geographic • Khan Academy